My interview by Kristina Circelli

One of my biggest moments happened in August 2012 following the release of my first novel, The Lady of Steinbrekka. This was a chance to be interviewed by my friend, mentor, and inspiration, the amazing Kristina Circelli!

For the full interview, please be sure to visit Kristina over at An Awfully Big Adventure! While you wait the 5 seconds for the page to load, here is a snippit.

Interview with Kristi Strong

1) Thanks for participating in this author interview (and for being my guinea pig and being the first…)! I am so excited The Lady of Steinbrekkais available. Being your first novel, how does it feel to go through the self-publishing process and finally, at the end of it all, have your book in hand?

It is very surreal. When I first saw my book up on www.bn.com I screamed, and grabbed my husband and just kept pointing at the screen going “It’s there! It’s there!” It is a wonderful and incredible feeling. At first I did experience some doubt because I always thought you had to go through a big time publisher to be legit, but this has just blown my mind and that notion straight out the window. The indie novel world is so immense, and has such wonderful creations that it is a awesome source of entertainment and stories.

2) LoS has been many years in the making. What inspired you to go back to your idea, and how did you keep that motivation going throughout the course of writing the book? 

That would be you ;) I have been writing short stories and poems my entire life, but never really thought of other people enjoying them. Your constant excitement kept me writing and made me realize that this is something that should be shared. My mom actually got pretty emotional when I told her that someone was encouraging me to write, and then publish. I had given up on it in college because “I was no Emerson/Tolkien/Rowling” and had forgotten why I write in the first place.

I also hit some spots where the characters or events totally surprised me by taking a different path than originally intended, and that is always exciting. After one fight scene I found myself going “Oh wow, I wonder what will happen next and if everything will be ok!” Then I realized I would have to actually write that and figure it out as the story evolved.

3) LoS is filled with many unique characters and places. Do any of them come from specific inspirations, or people? 

Mateo is actually the only one based on a real person, although more so his nicer side. Also, many of Rhea’s college experiences she refers to late in the book were pulled (and embellished a bit) from our friendship.
Many of the terms, names, and creatures do pull from a variety of languages (mashed together in many cases) or loosely resemble myths and folklore stories told throughout the world.